person to whom the remark was addressed. "Because," answered the other, "it must have been the effect of immediate inspiration."

Dr. Buckminster published during his life somewhat more than twenty occasional sermons, several of which had an immediate relation to the "Father of his country," with whom he was on terms of considerable intimacy. All these discourses are highly reputable, and some of them of marked excellence; and yet we imagine that they give but an imperfect idea of their author's power in the pulpit. There was that in him that made him a splendid as well as a highly effective and useful preacher; but his printed sermons might have been produced by many a mind much less richly endowed than his own.

Dr. Buckminster's theological views, as we have already had occasion to state, were strictly conformed to the standard of orthodoxy indicated by the Assembly's Catechism; and he looked with the most painful apprehension upon any departure from that general system. One of the greatest trials of his life, as we shall hereafter see, was the departure of his son from that system of doctrine in which he had been educated; and the last of his published sermons was a somewhat extended exposition of those views of evangelical doctrine which he held dearer than life. He however consented to preach the sermon at his son's ordination, and frequently exchanged pulpits with the Rev. Mr. Parker, (a Unitarian,) and maintained an intimate and affectionate intercourse with him to the close of life. There may be different opinions as to the entire consistency of his course in some respects, and different ways of accounting for it; we are concerned at present only with the facts.

JOSEPH STEVENS BUCKMINSTER, who is the subject of a large part of the volume before us, was born on the 26th of May, 1784. His early developments were remarkable, perhaps in some respects unprecedented. He began to study Latin at the age of four, and was so desirous of studying Greek also, that his father taught him to read a chapter in the Greek Testament by pronouncing the words to him. He was distinguished also for the utmost conscientiousness and purity of intention. When he was less than six years old, his father being about to leave home on a journey, remarked to him that he must take his place in the family, so far as he could, during his absence. Joseph accordingly spent most of the time in the study among his father's books, and when the hour for family prayer returned, he regularly called the family together, read a chapter in their hearing, and then knelt down and offered a prayer so fervent and touching that even the domestics of the household found it difficult to refrain from tears.

Until the age of ten, Joseph remained at the Grammar School at Portsmouth; but in the year 1795, he was sent to Phillips Academy, Exeter, which, at that time, and for nearly half a century after, was under the care of that eminent instructor, Dr. Benjamin Abbot. Here he was scarcely less under the influence of his father than while he was under the paternal roof; for he was constantly receiving from him letters of the most judicious and affectionate counsel, descending to every minute circumstance that could have a bearing on his conduct or happiness. So rapid was his progress that, at the age of twelve, he was well prepare to enter college; but his father fearing that the influence of temptation incident to college life would be too much for his extreme youth, was unwilling to risk him at so early an age, and accordingly kept him back till the next year. Meanwhile it was a matter of anxious doubt with both the father and son, whether his collegiate course should be at Harvard or Yale; the son preferring the former on account of some associations which he had already formed at Exeter, and the father inclining to the latter as his own Alma Mater, and as most likely to secure to his son the religious influence which he considered most desirable. The result, however, was that the father waived his scruples, and at the commencement in 1797, Joseph was admitted, at the age of thirteen, one year in advance, to Harvard College. His examination for admission revealed his remarkable powers and left those of the government of College who witnessed it in no doubt that if his life was spared, he was destined to become a star of no common brilliancy.

His college course fully realized, in its progress, all that was promised at its commencement. He was not indeed distinguished for his attainments in the abstract sciences, nor could he be said to be fond of them; and yet he made conscience of getting each lesson well in every department. It was in the study of belles lettres and whatever pertained to the department of criticism, that he made the most marked proficiency. His college "themes" showed a richness and gracefulness of mind, and sometimes an extent of reading, that was truly remarkable; and his reading and speaking were so inimitably beautiful and perfect, that it was very commonly regarded as a high privilege to listen to them. His oration delivered at the commencement when he took his first degree, taken in connection with his very youthful appearance and beantiful form and face, quite captivated and entranced the audience. After leaving college, he accepted the appointment of assistant teacher in Exeter Academy. His mind seems now to have taken a more decidedly serious direction, and it was about this time that he offered himself as a candidate for membership in his father's church. His father addressed to him a faithful and excellent letter on the occasion, reminding him of the solemnity of the

act which he was about to perform; but seems to have had no scruples about complying with his request. It does not appear that up to this time, he had formed any definite views of Christianity different from those in which he had been educated.

During his residence in Exeter as an assistant teacher, he commenced a course of study with reference to the ministry; and it was here probably that his mind began first to diverge from the faith of his fathers. It was here also, in the autumn of 1802, that he was visited with the first attack of that terrible malady, (epilepsy) which finally carried him to his grave. The following passage which he wrote in his journal, evidently intended for no eye but his own, evinces a frame of feeling in reference to this afflictive visitation which every one must approve and admire :"Another fit of epilepsy. I pray God that I may be prepared, not so much for death as for the loss of health and perhaps of mental faculties. The repetition of these fits must at length reduce me to idiocy. Can I resign myself to the loss of memory, and of that knowledge I may have vainly prided myself upon? O my God, enable me to bear this thought, and make it familiar to my mind, that, by thy grace, I may be willing to endure life as long as thou pleasest to lengthen it. It is not enough to be willing to leave the world when God pleases; we should be willing even to live useless in it, if he in his holy providence, should send such a calamity upon us. O God! save me from that hour!"

As the labors which devolved upon him as an assistant teacher at Exeter were considered an overmatch for his constitution, especially after the fearful malady above referred to had made its appearance, it was thought desirable that he should occupy some place where his faculties would be less severely tasked; and a favorable opening just at that time presented itself in the family of his relative, Theodore Lyman, who was glad to put his servi ces in requisition in preparing two of his sons to enter college. Mr. Lyman soon removed from Boston to Waltham, and Buckminster accompanied him; and here he was surrounded with all the elegance and luxuries of the most refined society. At this period he was accustomed frequently to visit Boston, and he became particularly intimate with Dr Freeman, minister of the Stone Chapel, who was his relative by marriage; and his father seems to have thought it owing, in a degree at least, to this intimacy, that his mind had received a bias in favor of Unitarianism. His admiration of Dr. Freeman seems to have been well nigh unbounded; and proposals were made to him by the Doctor, to which he seems to have been somewhat inclined to accede, to become associated with him in the services of the Chapel. It was now that his father became fully aware of his defection from the orthodox creed; and a correspondence commenced between them which was continued for a considerable time, and which evinced

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the strongest parental affection and the bitterest disappointment on the one hand, and the deepest filial reverence and sensibility on the other. The father more than once advised his son to direct his attention to some other profession, not dissembling at all his conviction that he lacked the most essential qualification for the ministry; and the son, merely from a regard to his father's feelings, had, at one time, nearly determined to devote himself to literary pursuits; but as the father's opposition seemed somewhat to relax, in the hope probably that his son's views might change, he was finally examined and approved as a candidate for the ministry, by the Boston Association. His first sermon was preached at York, Maine, in the pulpit of his venerable relative, the Rev. Isaac Lyman.

His intellectual developments had previously to this been so remarkable and so well known, that the congregation in Brattle Square, Boston, then recently rendered vacant by the death of Dr. Thatcher, immediately fixed upon him as a suitable person to fill that important vacancy. Here again, his anxions father was distressed at the idea of his occupying, at so early an age, so public and responsible a station; but his wishes were overruled by the importunity of the congregation, who, from the beginning, were enraptured by his eloquence, and even resolved to leave no means unemployed to secure him as their minister. The result was that he was called with great unanimity to the Brattle street church, accepted the call, and was ordained their pastor, January 30, 1805, when less than twenty-one years of age.

His father, though not without some reluctance, consented to preach the ordination sermon; and it must have been, in view of all the circumstances, a severe tax upon his parental sensibilities. In the course of the sermon he addressed the pastor elect in the following significant and touching manner :

My son, the day has arrived in which you are to be completely invested with that office, divine in its origin, important in its design, and beneficent in its influence, of which you have been emulous from your earlier years, and which you have always kept in view in your literary pursuits. While I have endeavored to restrain your ardor and check the rapidity of your course, motives of concern for the honor of God and for your reputation and comfort, influenced my conduct. But a power paramount to all human influence has cast the die, and I bow submissively. God's will be done!

"In the hours of parental instruction when my speech and affection distilled upon you as the dew, you have often heard me refer to the cheering satisfaction with which I presented you at the baptismal font in the name of the sacred Trinity, and enrolled you among the members of Christ's visible family; would to God I might now lead you with the same cheering hope to the altar

of God, and lend you to the Lord as long as you shall live. But the days are past in which you can depend upon the offering of a parent. To your own Master you stand or fall. God grant the response may be,-He shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand.''

And thus he addressed the congregation in behalf of his son :"The heart of a father, alive to the interests of a son and not indifferent to the honor of the gospel, recoiled from the idea of his beginning his ministerial efforts upon so public a theatre and before so enlightened an audience; and the hope that longer delay and greater experience would render him more equal to the duties of the ministry, and more worthy of the esteem and respect of his fellow men, induced me to yield with reluctance to your early request to hear him as a candidate. But since your candor and charity have silenced my scruples, and your affection and judgment have become surety for the youth, and he himself hath said, 'I will go with you,' I yield him to your request. Bear him up by the arms of faith and prayer. Remember him always in your devotional exercises. May God have you and your pastor within his holy keeping! May he shed down upon you unitedly his celestial dews, that you may be like a watered garden, and like a spring whose waters fail not."

On the very next day after his ordination, Mr. Buckminster, owing probably to the fatigue and excitement incident to the occasion, was seized with a severe fever by which he was kept out of his pulpit till the beginning of March; and the first sermon which he addressed to the congregation, as their pastor, instead of having special reference to the newly constituted relation, was a sermon on the "advantages of sickness."

As soon as his health permitted him to return to his active duties, he made it his business to become acquainted with all the families and individuals of his congregation, and recorded the names of all in a manuscript book, together with such remarks in respect to various characters, as might serve to aid him in his pastoral intercourse. In addition to his numerous duties as a parish minister, he was connected with many of the public interests of the day, and especially was one of the most active members of a literary association known as the "Anthology Club," which at that time concentrated much of the literary talent of Boston and the vicinity. It was by this association that the "Monthly Anthology," a well known periodical which was continued through a series of years, was conducted; and it is understood that a considerable proportion of the ablest articles contained in it were from the pen of Mr. Buckminster. Though the Anthology was chiefly a literary publication, it was not altogether silent upon theological subjects; and the history of the Unitarian controversy for several years, is to be traced very much through its pages. It